2007 Top Truck Challenge - Muck, Sweat & Gears

Day 1 Event 2

The Frame Twister

What it is and how it works: This course is the equivalent of high-impact aerobics for your rig. It's approximately 200 feet of mind-boggling misery that kicks off with strategically placed boulders, graduates to water and dirt, and concludes with its signature feature: logs placed perpendicular to the direction of travel over a deep water- and mud-filled abyss. Competitors are given 10 minutes to complete the course. Penalties in the form of seconds are assessed for infractions such as winching, hitting a marker cone, and so on. This year all the rigs that crossed the finish line were on the end of a cable.

Thorson's TJ

George's Bronco

McGilton's K1500

Finish Line Quotes

"Reminds me of my driveway in the springtime."
-Al Rhodes

"I thought I had it nailed. I don't think anyone has been through there without winching in what, 3 or 4 years? I thought this could've been the year."
-Ron George

"I'm still sweating from that one. That was awesome, just plain awesome."
-Wesley Wells

"That was my first time on rocks and I gave it my best shot. That's all I can do."
-Justin Langford

"Them danged 'ol rocks are bigger than we thought."
-Rick Johnson

Well's M135A

Langford's Bronco

Johnson's K3500

The Play-By-Play

Fink's TJ: Couldn't find the magic line through the boulders. Tried powering through and bent both framerails after violently colliding with the rocks. Ended up out-of-bounds. Damaged an oil cooler line.

George's Bronco: Fast run through the course. Hit the logs at full speed in an attempt to jump over as many as possible, but took a bad bounce and went out of bounds.

Hadden's S-10: Damaged the body while blasting through the boulders. Got stuck in the logs. New winch rope wasn't tight on the drum, so the winch took a fair amount of time to pull the rope tight.

Johnson's K3500: While attempting to set up for a pivot maneuver in the boulders, it rolled onto the passenger side. The team chose to end their run.

Langford's Bronco: Got stuck in the boulders and almost rolled. After eight minutes, the rig was stuck sideways in the rocks with damaged shocks and a bent steering ram. Chose to end their run.

McGilton's K1500: Crawled the boulders with the left front Bogger high in the air. Tried to power through the logs but got stuck partially sideways.

Miller's Sonoma: Codriver stacked rocks to help the locker-less rig clear the boulders. Got stuck in the logs and eventually timed out.

Rhodes' D-100: Slow and methodical until reaching the logs, and then a huge burst of power resulting in big air. Team spooled out the winch cable beforehand and it got tangled up during the run, costing valuable time.

Thorson's TJ: Fastest run of the day. Slammed into the logs so hard that the driver bent the steering wheel and the rear end lifted skyward. Good teamwork resulted in a fast winch over the finish line.

Wells' M135A: Made it through the boulders without much drama. Tried to crawl the logs but got stuck. Quick winch work earned a Third place finish.

Hadden's S-10

Miller's Sonoma